


I'm aware you're a lone wolf (but I swear to protect you)

by LeKeeton95



Series: The Glow of Home [2]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Strong Language, Undercover Work, future violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 18:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14624970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeKeeton95/pseuds/LeKeeton95
Summary: After a recon mission goes AWOL and Wynonna goes off the rails, Nicole has to find it in herself to face her own demons from the past and keep their little rag-tag team together to face against a brand new, and extremely dangerous, threat.





	I'm aware you're a lone wolf (but I swear to protect you)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been in the works since February, as sadly my work and family commitments come first, but here we go on the first chapter of my new work.
> 
> Part two of the Glow of Home series will explore the friendship between Nicole and Wynonna, and I think will be a two-parter, but we shall see.
> 
> A big thank you to both Kendrene and TheGaySmurf for their help in correcting any mistakes made, growing up in a foreign country has left me with mediocre English skills, and they've both been extremely patient.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr: [spreadlove-showcompassion](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/spreadlove-showcompassion)

“Can you stop?!”   
  
There were only so many nut shells she could stand hitting her in the face before she started to lose her patience.   
  
“I'm bored!” Wynonna whined from beside her, slumping further down into her seat.   
  
Five hours, the clock on the dashboard teased back. Five hours sitting in an unmarked black SUV in the freezing cold. Even Nicole's thermals couldn't help her.   
  
“We're working, Wynonna. At least try and seem like you want to be here,” Nicole mumbled, resting her elbow against the window and her head in her hand.   
  
“Yes, well, I don't want to be here,” Wynonna mocked, imitating the disgruntled officer beside her. “Especially when there's a Jack and a Daniel's waiting for me back at Shorty's.”   
  
“Is alcohol the only thing you ever think about?” Nicole questioned, genuinely curious as to what made Wynonna so, well,  _ Wynonna _ .   
  
“No, I also think about Peacemaker, and killing Revenants, and breaking the Earp curse,” Wynonna replied, exhaling noisily and clicking her tongue.   
  
Nicole couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She really, for the life of her, couldn’t figure out why Dolls had decided that she and Wynonna were best fit for this surveillance job together.   
  
A few days prior, Waverly had provided intel on another possible Revenant linked to the Earp curse. A man by the name of Philip Jacobs. He owned a run-down bikers’ bar on the outskirts of the city. Nicole herself had sat at the dining table until the early hours of the morning helping her girlfriend comb over file after file to find more on him and any other possible Revenants that he could be running with.   
  
What they’d managed to gather wasn’t much, sadly, though that didn’t really surprise her. Jacobs appeared to keep his head down, and the only things on record worth noting were a few bar fights that the Sheriff's department had been called out to.   
  
What they did know was that Jacobs had been sentenced by Wyatt Earp back in the day for laundering money, but he was no stranger to murder. The photos of the victims had been chilling, to say the least, and even Nicole had struggled to get a wink of sleep the night before.   
  
This morning, Dolls had decided surveillance would be needed to further progress on the case, and Nicole was glad that there was at least one other capable agent on the team, because she was sure by now that Wynonna would've just gone in guns blazing. She glanced at the file on her lap, a mugshot of the man in question staring back at her. She shuddered; there was something in his eyes she didn't like at all.   
  
“Penny for your thoughts, Haughtshot?”   
  
Nicole blinked, not realizing at first that Wynonna had indeed spoken.   
  
“Sorry?” She turned to Wynonna, who had started munching on nuts again.   
  
“I can practically hear your brain working.” Nicole winced as bits of food flew from Wynonna's mouth when she spoke. “Not to mention you're bouncing your leg, and if you don't stop, I'll break it.”   
  
“Just thinking about Jacobs,” Nicole sighed, turning to look out the windshield instead of at the slowly growing piles of nutshells on the floor of the SUV. She was going to kill Dolls, if she didn’t strangle Wynonna first.   
  
Beside her, Wynonna grunted.   
  
“We know he's the guy, why can't I just put him down?” the Heir scowled.   
  
“Maybe because we don't execute people,” Nicole simply stated. That earned a laugh from Wynonna.   
  
“People. Really, Nicole?” the Heir scoffed. “These Revenants aren't people, and it's my job to put them under. And if I need to execute them to end this goddamned curse, then so be it.”   
  
Silence fell heavy around them as Nicole considered Wynonna's words.   
  
“Maybe most of them aren't,” she spoke, choosing her words carefully. “But some didn't choose this, some just got caught up in it.”   
  
Wynonna made a noncommittal noise from beside her, turning to look out her window at the frosty, snow-covered park across the road.   
  
“Maybe,” she spat, but her words were laced with sadness more than anger. “But this is my curse, and I need to break it so  _ she _ doesn't have to.”   
  
Nicole was glad Wynonna hadn't been looking her way, because she couldn't help her surprise as she turned to her. Wynonna didn't mention her daughter often. In fact, Nicole hadn't heard Alice mentioned since she had been sent to their Aunt Gus. When taking whatever time together that she and Waverly could, there had been a few instances in which Waverly had briefly mentioned Alice. Any attempt at furthering the conversation had been shut down, though, and Nicole doubted she of all people would be able to get Wynonna to talk.   
  
“And besides,” the Heir continued, “this Revenant definitely isn't a saint. You've seen the photos.”   
  
“And that's exactly why we need to be careful, Earp. If we go in without a plan or any back up, we might not come back out.”   
  
Nicole remembered an instance in which Waverly had referred to Wynonna as a needy lone wolf. She didn't actively seek solace in people, but secretly was grateful when it was given.   
  
“I've got your back, Earp.”   
  
“I know,” Wynonna gave a nod of acknowledgement. “But you also have the amazing ability to sound like a female Dolls.”   
  
Shock suddenly colored her features.   
  
“Oh, my God. I  _ knew _ you were too good to be true,” she exclaimed, slapping Nicole's arm and earning an offended yelp. “So what are you, grown in a lab? Robot? Do you breathe fire, too? Come on, they must make you somewhere.”   
  
Nicole couldn't help but gape for a moment, until she noticed the shit-eating grin on Wynonna's face. She huffed and rubbed her arm, looking reproachfully at Wynonna.   
  
“Lighten up, Haughtshit,” Wynonna tutted, looking out through the windshield. “Got to entertain myself somehow.”   
  
“Is it like physically impossible to do that on your own, like without annoying me and filling Dolls’ car with nut shells?” Nicole once again eyed the mess on the floor.   
  
“It'll get cleaned, relax.”   
  
Nicole huffed. God, how did Waverly tolerate her sister for so long?   
  
“That's beside the point, Earp. You're making a mess in a car that doesn't even belong to you, do you have no respect for other people's property?”   
  
“Depends on my mood,” Wynonna fired back with a noncommittal tone.   
  
Nicole slouched in her seat, her head falling back against the headrest. The people she tolerated for the woman she loved. Sure, Nicole liked Wynonna, and they could actually get along fine. But Nicole was starting to realize this was the longest they'd spent together in such a confined space, and she knew that Wynonna was only going to get worse the longer this dragged on.   
  
“So what are your thoughts on the suspect?” Nicole diverted the conversation, knowing that talking about Revenants would be a sure way to distract the Heir’s boredom.   
  
“That I really don't want to be on the receiving end of his blade.” Wynonna pulled the photos of the victims from the folder. “I mean look at this. He's one messed up dude. Probably didn't receive any motherly love.”   
  
Wynonna shoved the photos at Nicole, who struggled to keep the morning's breakfast down.   
  
“I'm aware, Wynonna. I've seen them.”   
  
Nicole turned her gaze away as Wynonna laughed.   
  
“Wow, Haught, don't they teach you how to stomach this shit at the academy?”   
  
“Yes, Wynonna. They do,” Nicole scoffed. “But that doesn’t mean I particularly like seeing it.”   
  
Wynonna  _ tsked _ , closing the file and throwing it onto the dashboard.   
  
The sun was beginning to set beyond the mountains, and if nothing interesting happened soon, Nicole would have to call this mission a bust and figure out another way forward.    
  
“Hey, eyes forward. You seeing this?” Wynonna pointed out a black pickup truck pulling up outside the bar. Bringing her binoculars to her eyes, Nicole noticed a locked metal casing in the back.   
  
“Yup, they're delivering something, and it's definitely not booze.” Nicole passed the binoculars to Wynonna before bringing up the police issued camera to snap photos.   
  
“This is what we've been waiting for, Haught,” Wynonna urged, turning to her. “We've got our chance to bust him.”   
  
Nicole shot Wynonna a wide-eyed look of incredulity.   
  
“Seriously? On one crate, and no warrant, we might as well hand in our badges now.”   
  
“Come on, Nicole,” Wynonna groaned. “We're here as Black Badge, hunting a demon spawn of Hell. None of this is exactly on record.”   
  
“Tell that to the paperwork I fill out for Dolls,” Nicole simply mumbled, before asserting herself. “We can't move yet. It's one crate. We simply watch what happens and provide intel for Dolls.”   
  
As she spoke, two men exited the vehicle and three more walked out of the bar. All five had guns strapped to their thighs, and all five also had the same tribal neck tattoo.   
  
“Hey, those tats!” Wynonna exclaimed. “They're the same one Jacobs has.”   
  
“Well, that's good. It means we're finally getting somewhere.”   
  
The adrenaline was starting to pump after five hours of no luck. At last there was a chance of something concrete to nail the Revenant with, and with that, they were one step closer to ending the Earp curse.   
  
The men spoke amongst themselves before two moved to the back of the truck and began pulling the case from the trunk. Wynonna started to wriggle in her seat.   
  
“We've got to move! We have something, Haught!” There was excitement in her voice, and Nicole didn't like it.   
  
“Wynonna, no. Stay put.” She was getting worried. If Wynonna moved now, it could kick off a serious situation.   
  
“Speak for yourself. I'm going in.”   
  
Before Nicole could even register what Wynonna had said, she'd slipped from the SUV and was slamming the door. Nicole froze in fear for a moment, before quickly springing into action.   
  
She jumped from the SUV just as Wynonna called out to the gang of men about to re-enter the bar   
  
“Hey, neck tats!”   
  
Nicole inwardly groaned at the greeting that drew the attention of the men. Wynonna pulled her badge from her pocket.   
  
“BBD,” she announced. “And that crate looks mighty suspicious.”   
  
“Wynonna...” Nicole drawled out in warning. “I told you to wait.”   
  
At this point, three of the men had flanked the two holding the crate. Nicole could see the situation quickly getting out of hand. The men remained silent, but their hands were inching slowly to their guns.   
  
“I won't repeat myself again,” Wynonna singsonged, pulling Peacemaker from its holster. “BBD is monitoring your boss, and I need to see what's in that crate.”   
  
Nicole was ready to kill Wynonna herself. As the men pulled their weapons, she drew hers, training her sights on each in turn. They were outnumbered. Even if she fired first, one of them was going to get hit.    
  
“This bar belongs to Phillip Jacobs,” one man spoke, his voice gravelly. “Without a warrant, I'm afraid you're seeing nothing.”   
  
“Wynonna, please, let's walk away before someone gets hurt,” Nicole begged, urging Wynonna to just turn around and leave.   
  
Wynonna simply pointed Peacemaker at his face, the usual glint in her eye.   
  
“I'll just have to have a personal word with your boss then,” she smirked.   
  
“Oh, please do,” a new voice broke in. “I'm itching to know why you're pointing guns at my staff.”   
  
The photos did no justice to Phillip Jacobs. In person, he was twice as menacing, and the gleam in his eyes actually set Nicole's hair on end.   
  
“Staff? Is that what they're calling them now?” Wynonna didn't appear fazed by his arrival.   
  
“Well, this is my bar, and these men work here.”   
  
“What's in the box?” Wynonna barked, completely ignoring Jacobs.   
  
“Do you have a warrant to search the premises?” Jacobs appeared unruffled by the situation, raising his eyebrow at Wynonna. Nicole decided it was now or never if she was going to step in.   
  
“I'm afraid we don't, sir. I apologize. My officer is out of line.”   
  
Jacobs smirked as he turned his attention toward Nicole.   
  
“You'll do well to control your rookie, Officer Haught.”   
  
A chill ran down Nicole's spine.  _ How does he know who I am? _   
  
“So, you come barging on to my premises without a warrant, and brandishing weapons. You don't give me confidence that you're not a threat.”   
  
Wynonna cocked Peacemaker, and the sounds of Jacobs's men doing the same rang painfully in Nicole's ears.   
  
“I'll give you a threat, Revenant,” Wynonna spat.   
  
Jacobs laughed. Three guns against two were not good odds, and Nicole was desperate to defuse the situation.   
  
“I know who you are, Wynonna Earp, and I know everyone you love. If you want me to be a threat, I will be more than happy to oblige.”   
  
It was as if time had slowed to a stop. No one moved. No one blinked. Everyone fell silent.    
  
Nicole made her move.   
  
She re-engaged her gun’s safety and placed it back in its holster, hands raised in placation.   
  
“We'll leave. No one has to get hurt,” Nicole declared. “Earp, come on. Let's go.”   
  
For one terrifying moment, the deputy thought Wynonna might not listen. But then she lowered Peacemaker and holstered it, pointing at Jacobs.   
  
“I am coming for you Jacobs. I will send you back to Hell.”   
  
And with that, she turned on the spot and marched back to the SUV. Nicole made to follow quickly, until Jacobs spoke up.   
  
“Oh, Officer Haught. Please do be careful of the company you keep.” He then grinned. “It may just get you into trouble.”   
  
His laugh followed her back to the SUV, where Wynonna was waiting for her.   
  
“What the fuck was that, Haught?” she yelled, slamming her hands onto the hood, earning a wince from Nicole, “Oh, and FYI... I ain't your rookie.”   
  
Nicole shook her head in disbelief. Out of everything Wynonna could bring up from the last five minutes, she chose that.   
  
“Me?” blurted Nicole. “You're the one that decided it was best to just go stomping up to a group of Revenants.”   
  
“I'm doing my job,” Wynonna snarled, almost jabbing her finger in Nicole’s face. “Whose fucking side are you on?”   
  
“Yours!” Nicole cried out. “So why are you trying to get yourself killed?!”   
  
“We know he's a damn Revenant, so why aren't we just shooting him in the face and getting this over with?” Wynonna threw her arms up, pacing back and forth.   
  
“People will talk, Wynonna,” Nicole explained. “If we just start killing people off, the citizens will notice, and they'll talk.”   
  
“I had him. He was right there.” Wynonna's voice was moving into hysterics, and Nicole attempted to calm the situation.   
  
“We'll get him soon, just not today,” she promised. Wynonna spun on the spot and flew into Nicole's space, effectively pressing Nicole back into the door of the SUV.   
  
“You said you had my back, dude. You said you were there.”   
  
“I am!” Nicole yelled, feeling her blood boil. “But you just unnecessarily endangered both of our lives.” How could this woman be so damn careless sometimes?   
  
“I'm sorry I'm such a goddamn burden,” Wynonna scoffed. “Maybe next time you should just get the hell out of my way.”   
  
Nicole had had quite enough at this stage. Wynonna was acting as if her decisions wouldn't hold repercussions for anyone else.   
  
“And if that situation had gotten out of hand?” Nicole asked. “What if one of us had gotten hurt? Or worse, killed? What then?”   
  
“What the hell are you talking about?”   
  
“You don't have just yourself to think about, Earp. You're a fucking mother!”   
  
Silence fell at Nicole's outburst. Wynonna even had the good grace to look slightly ashamed. But Nicole wasn't done.   
  
“You have a sister, who also happens to be my girlfriend, and we have friends who care about us. What about how they'd feel if something happened to us?” she urged. “And you have a daughter, who one day might finally be able to come home to her mother, to a town free of a curse, but that'll never happen if you keep endangering yourself.”   
  
“It's  _ my _ job.  _ My _ burden,” Wynonna spat out, her face twisting into rage. “Who the fuck are  _ you _ to come walking in here, telling me what to do about something you've only just started grasping the concept of?”   
  
“Wynonna, please. I'm trying to help,” Nicole implored, extending her hand amicably. Wynonna slapped it away.   
  
“Hell no, Haught,” the Heir hissed, getting right into Nicole's face. “You said you had my back, and when I needed it most, you weren't there. So why don't you do me a favor, and stop wasting my time, your time, and even Waverly's time, if you're not prepared to be there for this family.”   
  
And with that, Wynonna stormed off, leaving a shocked silence in her wake, and Nicole pressed against the SUV with a whole new sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
> 
> Work has already begun on part two, I hope it won't take long to have that one up next.


End file.
